The Hunger Games Continued
by ynotero12
Summary: DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES This story is simply inspired by Suzanne Collins. The timeline is somewhere between the last chapter after Katniss calls her mother through the epilogue and beyond. Peeta and Katniss growing back together basically. There kids make an appearance in the future, so please be patient. My first publication. Please be supportive & enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES. This story is simply inspired by Suzanne Collins.

I had just gotten off the phone with my mother when I heard the door unlocking. Greasy Sae was making her daily visit. I sat slouched in my chair in the office next to the phone. The room was freezing from the early morning chill but no longer smelled of poisonous roses. I was debating wether or not to go to the kitchen now or later until I smelled it: fresh bread. He had only been back for a day, and he's already trying to take care of me to. I would normally be irritated but instead I found myself patting my face dry and re-braiding my hair. When I walked into the kitchen, both of them looked at me. Sae went back to the eggs, but Peeta stared for a second longer his blue eyes focused on mine. My eyes must have still been puffy. "Good-morning." The greeting came out raspier than I expected it too. "It's nearly afternoon, girl. You ought to get your clocks in order." Sae still criticized me like how she used to. Peeta smirked and continued slicing the loaf. I was just staring at his hands moving until Greasy Sae filled three plates with eggs and commanded us to eat. We each grabbed a slice of bread to go along with it. I finished my plate and leaned back in my chair in somewhat of a daze. I heard Sae mumble something about Peeta cleaning while she left to check on her granddaughter. He began to stack the plates and pile them in the sink. He turned on the faucet and turned asked me a question, "Where do you keep the drying rags?" It took me a whole thirty seconds to register the question. I opened the cabinet under my feet and grabbed the first cloth my fingers touched. I stood to his left as he handed me wet dishes to dry. While he was scrubbing the pan I noticed a scar that hadn't been there before. It was my teeth marks. I grabbed his hand without thinking about it to take a closer look. "Uh..Katniss?" He was staring down at me. "Oh. It's just these are my teeth. I'm sorry." Then he did what I didn't expect and burst out laughing. "It's alright. It helps me remember. All of them do." I was confused, "All of what?" "All of my scars."


	2. Chapter 2

We cleaned up the rest in silence. Peeta left and reminded me to call Dr. Aurelius. I did, and he told me to try to go through the regular motions of what used to be normal days. He said to call him once a week and I did. Another month went by and I was starting to feel a little normal again, but my house felt so empty. I found myself spending less and less time there. Greasy Sae would now come every couple days and leave food in the freezer box for me to heat up. Peeta would come over too, and he would bring cheese buns. He seemed more put together than me, like always. I wondered if he still had any trace of venom left in him. I wanted to ask him but our conversations mostly consisted of how things were going at the new bakery. It just opened up a little while ago, and he spent most of his time there. Town was starting to look more and more like how it used to except for the huge factory that loomed in the background. It was being put up even faster than town. It was supposed have a hospital wing. I wondered if my mother would come back and work there. I doubted it. The seam was no longer the seam. People started rebuilding homes closer to town towards the medicine factory where they would soon be working. One day as I walked towards the lake to watch the sunset, I realized I was in the meadow. It had greened again, but there was no one around to appreciate it. The grass was up to my knees. I sank to the ground and ran my hand against it. I felt the hot tears steaming down my face. My sobs were silent as I cried over District 12's biggest grave. I thought of all the old faces I used to see everyday and no longer existed. I felt myself sinking deeper into the ground. I hadn't had a break down in almost two months. The past snuck up on me in this moment, and I felt myself fading. The sun was setting; the sky was Peeta's favorite shade of orange. I closed my eyes letting myself drift to sleep. I slept in peace until my dream brought me into the terror of the dead bodies underneath me, grabbing me to take them under with them. I jolted awake gasping for air. I must have been asleep for at least four hours. I climbed out of the meadow's hold on me to the gravel path that led to town. It was silent all around me. Everyone must be fast asleep. I walked through until I reached Victor's Village. Some of Haymitch's geese were circling his house. I was about to make my way up my front steps when I noticed Peeta's windows wide open. It wouldn't have struck me as strange except that all of his lights were on. I don't know what made me change paths but soon enough I was at his door. I knocked. He opened the door a couple seconds later. He had dark circles around his eyes and hands had paint marking all over them. "Katniss?" I forgot I was the one that knocked, "Yeah, sorry. I saw your lights on, and I was walking back from the meadow." "Come on in."


	3. Chapter 3

His house was a little different than mine. His kitchen and dining room were in the entrance while his living room was off to the back next to the office. He led me to the table, and we both sat down. "What were you doing in the meadow this late?" I felt my face get warm. "I fell asleep there" He threw me a quizzical look. "Did you do that on purpose?" How he knew that being in meadow was an accident, I had no idea. Peeta's attention to the details in my life always surprised me. "No. I...all the people. You weren't here, but they all..." I couldn't bring myself to say that they were buried in such a beautiful place. He took my hands in his. I felt a tear fall down my cheek. "I know. Are you okay, Katniss?" All I could do was shake my head. I felt him lean over and wipe the tear away. I knew he would never stop loving me, but I didn't think he would ever show he did again. I sighed still not being able to put my dream into words. He muttered one word, "Nightmares." It wasn't a question. He knew. He remembered. "They...all of them were coming out of the ground. They were coming to get me and take me under with them. And...she was...she was there at the edge of the meadow...on fire...Prim." My voice broke. He pulled me close to him and let me cry. I just stood there wrapped in his arms. It was the safest I felt in a long time. Finally, he looked down at me, "Are you hungry?" I shook my head. "Okay." He tucked a piece of hair that had fallen in my face, out of my braid, behind my ear. I was suddenly wondering about him. "Peeta, why are you awake?" He got a strained look on his face, and I realized he was having just as bad of a night as me. Now I was the worried one, "You look exhausted. When's the last time you slept?" "I don't remember." I was fidgeting in his arms thinking that somehow my presence disturbed his night. "Maybe I should go home so you can get some sleep." I was turning to leave when he grabbed my hand. "Don't go. Stay." I turned and gazed into blue eyes I had come to know so well, "Always."


	4. Chapter 4

He walked me into his living room for the first time. The couch was missing. He told me he put it in the study. There were pillows thrown all over the rug that was draped in a tarp that caught his paint. He had all different easels set up all over the room. Pencils and paint were spread across a table against the wall. There were every different sized paint brush in a jar on the corner. I walked towards the easels. The paintings were as breathtaking as ever. "I still paint in my sleepiness.", he said in a comical tone from his place across the room. I could see all of the landscapes of what District 12 used to be. I saw the painting of the bakery. I traced my fingers along its edges. It looked like the old one but was slightly altered. He spoke from right behind me now, "I'm working on adding a garden to the roof, right here." His arm came up around me and pointed to where he was talking about. "I think that's a great idea. I never said thank you for the flowers." He turned me around to face him, "It was nothing just thought it would be nice." I felt myself start to smile for the first time in a while. He brought to sit down in a patch of pillows and pulled me close to him to watch him paint. He sat the canvas in front of him and started to sketch first. I noticed he was drawing Buttercup. "Don't forget the messed up ear." He smiled as he added that detail. He started mixing the colors. Browns with yellows and a bit of red until he finally reached the butterscotch shade that would be the eyes. I started talking about how I wanted to create a book filled with everyone who was gone so I could remember them forever. He told he would paint them for me while I wrote the notes. I started to drift to sleep with my head in his lap. I woke up a couple hours later; Peeta was leaned back on the pillows paintbrush still in his hand. I got up, moved his art aside, turned off the lights, and made my way back to him. I laid my head on his chest and fell back to sleep immediately. It was almost afternoon when I woke up again. The sun was streaming in through the windows and the air was warm. I felt Peeta playing with my hair and knew that he must have woken up before me. I sat up a little, "Good-morning." He chuckled, "More like afternoon." "I'm going to call Dr. Aurelius and tell him about the book." "You can use the phone in the office." "Okay. You should get to the bakery; it's late." "That's okay. I'll take the day off." I smiled at him wondering what the rest of the day would bring.


	5. Chapter 5

The parchment arrived the next day and for the next couple of weeks we worked on the book together. Peeta would work at the bakery during the day. I would hunt, deliver game to everyone in town, and check in on Haymitch. Some days me and Peeta would have dinner with Haymitch when he was sober waiting for the next train of liquor to show up. Other days, me and Peeta had dinner in my kitchen or his then spend the nights together. One night at his house we were headed upstairs to go to bed when I misstepped and almost fell backwards down the step when Peeta caught me. He had me in his arms and then leaned into kiss me. I let him because for a while I had been craving this too. I wrapped myself around him as he carried me up the rest of the stairs into his room. We fell asleep that night with our lips hardly separated. The next morning, I woke up before him which rarely ever happened. I watched him sleep peacefully. This was the only time that he looked somewhat his age. Eighteen. At that moment Peeta opened his eyes; they matched the sky outside. He smiled at me, "Happy Birthday, Katniss." He leaned forward to kiss me. It was really May 8th. I could barely remember my birthday last year because all we were doing was training for the Quarter Quell. It felt like an entire lifetime had passed to get to this moment. Last year, I wasn't planning on being alive this long. I felt my face turn into a frown. "What's wrong?" Peeta was staring at me. "I just didn't think things would end up this way..." "Katniss..." "Peeta, do ever think of how things would be if they just would have went according to plan?" "After which point." He was right. There were many things in our lives that changed us completely. "You know, I think we owe alot to Seneca Crane." "I think we owe much more to Haymitch." He had a point. Without Haymitch neither of us would be here. I just laid there buried in thought until Peeta interrupted, "Do you want breakfast?" I nodded my head. He got out of bed as I began to sit up. He came over to me and offered me his hand. I tool it, and we both made our way downstairs. "Hey close your eyes!" All of the sudden he sounded like a little kid again. "C'mon Katniss, close your eyes!" I couldn't help but smile. "Okay, okay!" I went to sit on the stool in the kitchen and closed my eyes. I heard Peeta rustling around. He placed something in front of me, but I wasn't sure what it could be. I felt him me as he placed his hands over my eyes. "Okay now, open!" I was looking at a beautifully decorated birthday cake small enough for two people. Peeta had painted the trees, a lake, and the side had katniss flowers all over it. "Peeta...it's" I was speechless. I turned around and kissed him. I don't think he was expecting it because he stumbled backwards. "Wow. Better reaction than I was expecting," he said after we had separated. Suddenly, his face contorted. He went to grip the nearest chair and shut his eyes. "Peeta?" I put my hand on his shoulder. For a moment he looked up at me with hate in his eyes that once terrified me. Then as soon as the look came it went away. He shook it off. "Umm...Peeta, are you..." "So, what would you like to do today? We can do anything you want!" He cut me off.


End file.
